Zaistrun's Charter Log

24th of Calistril 4710

I met Sir Thaddeus and his party in Restov and knowing him and his party to be exceptional individuals (excepting the halfing peasant) I decided it would be best to join him for our common good. I had met him before at a wedding along with his sister, who will also be joining us. He is a gifted individual, and will make a fitting party leader while demanding respect from common folk everywhere.

We had been summoned into a parlor of Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius to wait upon his convenience. It was meagerly furnished, but comfortable. There we met a man by the name of Magar Varn, a low ranking but eager to impress Swordlord. He was friendly but went his own way. We passed some arrogant diplomats on our way into the main area of business, no one of any particular use to us, so it was a kindness they scurried out of our way.

We met the man himself who was quite gracious. He gave us a charter for our group as well as a good indication of our job. We are to search out the bandit influence south of the south Rostland road. Our base of operations is at Oleg trading’s post on that road, but it will give us a decent place to start. We are also to map and explore the area and have leave from the king for destruction of any bandits we should come across.

The servants took us to a wing of the mansion for our personal use for the night and we discussed some trivial matters before our journey began.

25th of Calistril

We were given oats for our steeds and we left upon the brisk morn. The weather was barely tolerable.

26th of Calistril

We ran into some wild dogs of some sort in the middle of the night. The peasant halfling made use of himself through alerting us to their presence, and managed to sully his blade as well. I managed to scare one off while Sir Thad dispatched the others. There were some minor injuries as well as a discovery of our lack of ability to heal. Hopefully we will come upon some magical help along this direction before we have any real casualties. There is some doubt here.

27th of Calistril

In the evening we arrived at Oleg’s trading fort. A humble fort, had better comforts than we had for the last few nights as well as a stable for our mounts. Being but peasant merchants they decided to charge us for such mean things as food and stabling our mounts. We were told that bandits often showed up this time of the month for the collection of “taxes”. Sir Thaddeus would hardly leave the couple to suffer this again, and so we are making plans to put up a bit of a fight to bring such bandits to justice. Hopefully we can capture one alive for questioning.

28th of Calistril

We managed to capture two after a bit of fuss. There were four, and the two that were left told us there were eight back at camp. Sir Thad convinced the duplicitous vermin that were left to turn on their companions for their freedom. It seems we will be off to combat the bandits at their lair tomorrow. With a bit of fortune, we will be able to finish part of our charter within the first week of our expedition. If the rabble we find there is similar to what we fought here, we should be able to handle it without much trouble.

Upon further discussion, we decided to do some exploration and get to the bandit camp during the next day. There was nothing exceptional about the land around the fort, but for sake of being thorough, it needed to be done.

1st of Pharast

We traveled down to the south toward the bandit camp, and sent Sarala forward to do some scouting, and after some pleading, the peasant went along as well while we guard the “former” bandits. After a bit of that, it was decided that a frontal assault was necessary. The leader had a bit of talk, but Sir Thad took out her and another bandit with one swing each. Our peasant managed a kill as well, much to my surprise. His small blade hardly looks as if it would be able to kill a rabbit, but his splash of acid is much more effective.

We talked the other two bandits into “joining” our cause. Our plan is to wait until the rest of the bandits show up. We learned a bit about the local boss who calls himself the Stag Lord. Evidently he loves his liquor, and we had some in the bandits’ stash. Sarala dresses up as the leader of the bandits quite convincingly, and Thad and I shall be in the tower to await the return of the bandits.

2nd of the Pharast

Sarala has the bandits ruled by fear. It has been amusing. The peasant has been missing, I suppose he is hiding somewhere, he hasn’t shown the inclination to run like others of his ilk.

3rd of Pharast

The missing bandits returned and our sneaky plan was discovered when one of the bandits we had spared two days before turned on us and tried to warn the other bandits. After a brief scrum, we were able to kill the disloyal subject but we lost one who warned us. There will be some sadness because of his sacrifice. I am a bit disappointed in our leader for I am sure that we had fingered the betrayer earlier and we should have executed him on the spot. Had we done so, the others would have become much more loyal and would take him more seriously. I told him this, and he seemed to take it as a learning experience, which is encouraging. Sir Thad will likely give the one who survived the same deal, but we are likely to have at least two questionable men walking with us. Hopefully one of them will be able to direct us toward the Stag Lord, or perhaps another bandit camp.

This new capture is willing to weave a tale of woe, but he is willing to work for his freedom, so Thad gave him a bit of leeway. I asked Thad if I could bring him and the peasant and do some trading. I hope to be able to gain a method of healing so that injury will not be as difficult a problem. I decided to leave right away so that we could spend the night at Oleg’s in a reasonable bed. I had decided to test our new ward along the way to see if he was willing to take advantage of us at night. So far, he is either too dumb to notice or too smart to take the bait. We shall see which it shall be in the future.

4th of Pharast

We arrived at Oleg’s and were able to make him feel better upon the destruction of the bandit camp. We ordered a wand from our new found wealth and ended up with a few coin to carry with us. I also ran into a relative I did not expect. Kesten is here hoping to regain some honor and it could behoove us to stay friendly with him. I also enjoy the idea of fraternizing with someone who embarrassed the family after their last attempt to simply use me without affording me any desires on my part in return. Perhaps we will both make our names known in this area and we will be useful to each other.

5th of Pharast

We started our return journey and I put our new charge to the test, which he refused to take again. It seems there is still no indication whether or not he is interested in being on our side.

6th of Pharast

Upon our return we decided to do some exploration in the area and were able to map it out. It seemed the bandit camp was the only thing of note anywhere near us.

7th of Pharast

The next area was rather unimportant but it was mapped nonetheless.

8th of Pharast

We sent the former bandits to hunt due to our dwindling food stocks. We will see who comes back. Thad seemed to think that the Stag Lord wouldn’t be very friendly toward them if they didn’t bring him his booze, so we can be relatively sure they will not run to him and tell him of our intent.

Upon their return, one of the men had decided to run as soon as he was out of our sight, but our new partner killed him believing that he would die if he let him go. We were pleased to see proof of his loyalty. Their belief is that they could do better hunting tomorrow, and we agree.

9th of Pharast

We ran into some bones lying about, and there was a spider that attacked Sir Thad. He dispatched the spider and we found a bandit that was its prey. The body was still equipped and so we were able to free it of it’s belongings. He had a map of a claw shaped tree and an X at the bottom. We remembered that tree from yesterday and decided to find out if his treasure was buried there.

Thad recommended that we get some trail rations from Oleg, and it seemed a fine idea. The men went hunting because they are not all welcome there, but then the next day we can go see if that place in full force in case there are bandits there.

10th of Pharast

We made it back to the trade post without incident and purchased a few more rations. There we met a cleric by the name of Jhod Kavken. He was interested in finding an ancient temple to Erastil around these parts and told us to keep out an eye for it. He also told us of a nearby hermit that might be able to make potions. A veritable fountain of information, he told us of a monastery nearby. Some local goddess of some ill repute who might be the cause of the rise of banditry seems to be the culprit. With this information, it is easy to know we will come to some sort of conflict in the future.

When we arrived back at camp, it seems that we were able to gain some rabbit meat from our hunters and we had a fine feast.

11th of Pharast

We went down to the bandit’s treasure trove, and found a small cache of treasure including a wand with a few charges of burning hands which I have relegated for my personal use. We did some exploration as well, but found nothing of import.

Early in the morning we were attacked by a troll. The new wand we had gotten hardly seemed to faze it, but an illusionary wall kept it at bay long enough for us to escape. We sacrificed one horse which was mine to its hungry maw as it didn’t have any of the saddlebags on it. Both Paido and Thad were nearly slain, but Sarala and I managed to get them back to Oleg’s for some healing.

12th of Pharast

We arrived at Oleg’s early in the morning and were practically robbed by the cleric who healed them. I almost told him to take his ‘help’ elsewhere, but he did give Sarala some pointers on how to use a wand. My cousin heard a rumor of abandoned gold mines from Taldan settlers several centuries ago. If those could be found, there would be some definite fortunes to be had. He introduced us to his men, and I decided to write them down otherwise I wouldn’t remember them. Their names were: Vedrich, Henledd, and Orven. He said they followed orders well, which is a relief. I hope they perform well for him.
After everything was settled, I took some repose. In the mid afternoon I awoke and we decided to go off to reclaim our lost items.

14th

We arrived and retrieved Sir Thad’s armor as well as other items that were strewn about. It was decided we would be more prudent to move to the north for a few hours before making camp again.

15th

We were awoken by an owlbear that found our camp in the early morning. We left with rapidity. Upon further reflection, we might have been able to defeat it, but we were still unnerved by the troll from a few days ago. I hope it will not be long before we can reequip and be able to handle such things. There was nothing else of import in the entirety of the area.

16th

These last few days have been explorations in boredom. Paido has been asking me horrifically simple questions. I am not sure how he had started to feel like this wasn’t a breach of etiquette, but it might be increasingly difficult to maintain an order of decorum amongst the expeditionary party. There is a question of whether it is practical to do so in the wilds, but as for now, I will try to hold to the things that have been a measure of comfort to me so far as it may hold for more uncomfortable situations in the future. It would be better for me to be consistent than a later hypocrite.

17th

We found the hermit, and somehow convinced him that if we found some fangberries, he would give us a discount on potions. Sarala imitated his voice for the rest of the day and it was mildly amusing.

18th

A travel day, we went to Olegs and picked up Ddatsig who was waiting for us. The other used the option to flee. We went to the forest to begin exploring that area and did some looking for fangberries, but to no avail. Datsig says they are along the edges of the forest, but I question his knowledge of such thing.

19th

In our exploration of the area, we discovered a patch of moon radishes. They might actually help season our extremely bland trail rations. They may also save us some money as well as those trail rations tend to add up. In the midst of the radishes, there were some kobolds as well. After we exterminated the vermin, we filled our packs with their food. One survived, but we tied him up for some reason. Eventually we were able to get it to talk, but it wasn’t terribly informed. We let it live but I gave it a warning to keep their distance. It will tell its clan if it has any intelligence.

20th

Pressing further to the west we discovered some camouflaged nests. It was an otherwise uninteresting bit of woods. That evening, Paido discovered what seemed to be fey that warned anyone to abandon hope that traveled to the west. After some inquisition we decided to go back to sleep.

21st

Sir Thad found his armor completely covered in honey this morning, so we got a late start after some hours spent cleaning it. We would do well to be so fortunate in our dealings with the fey from this point on.

After being harassed by a squirrel for several hours, we came across a body underneath some logs. It seems to be some sort of logging accident, but it might be the very same fey that could be at issue. We decided he should be buried, and had some hiderance from the invisible denizens of the forest, but we were able to finish without wasting the day.

After we set up camp for the night, there was a flare cantrip that was cast on the first spark that Sarala was using to light it. Sarala thought it was funny, but I almost wonder if she was merely humoring the fey.

22nd

The next day, we exited the forest, but we were looking along the edge for fangberries. All of a sudden, a great insect came out of the ground. We did dispatch it with an excellent shot from Sarala. After looking to see if it had any edible meat to it, we decided to leave it rot.

23rd

The fey had not left us alone at this time, as in the morning when Paido opened his book it made a bovine groan. While we were still amused by this, Sarala found a message in berry juice on the back of my white robes. Paido was able to remove it with prestidigitation. We did not find any berries in the area, so it was hardly a helpful message. We also found a predator or something in a hole. It heard us and came out and we found another centipede. Sarala was struck down by the creature, but quick thinking by Sir Thad saved her. I had to admit, it was a nasty wound, and it was excellent we bought that wand or else we should have had at least one casualty today. Otherwise, we found nothing of import.

24th

Uneventful in every day, it seems as if the fey have left us alone. It would have been interesting to see what they had in store for us today, but at least Paido didn’t ask me any personal questions.

25th

We found a cairn and some blackberries in this area, but not really anything else. We left the cairn undisturbed.

26th

In the late afternoon we discovered a camouflaged man, and decided to try diplomacy after some information gathering. He seemed amiable enough, and was able to identify himself as Hanzel and the dead man, who probably died setting a trap. It seemed the fang berries are to the south on the eastern side of the Narlmarches. The rest of the day was less than eventful.

27th

Sarala found a bear trap, and we circumvented it without further fuss. Later we found a sprung trap and a strange paw, which I catalogued for further inquiry at a later date. It had a strange texture and four long talons on its paw. We found two more of the traps as well, but marked them upon the map.

That night, the horse was attacked by some sort of dart from the darkness. Thad found a fey in the dark, and woke us. They were malicious little creatures who tried to kill Sarala’s horse, but they didn’t give us much of a fight, but fled as soon as we took a few out. After that, there wasn’t any more trouble with them.

28th of Pharast

We came upon a strange but beautiful woman with silver eyes. She gave us a warning from some vision she had. It seemed to do nothing but sour the appetite, and of course she brought food. She seems pleasant enough, but I’d rather not spend time with her. Unfortunately, when she isn’t giving out cryptic messages, she makes maps, and we need someone like that among us. So she came with. Paido is already gotten a better idea of what he is doing with the maps, and Sarala seems to like her, which is strange. There does seem to be a hint of nobility in her countenance, but she has not spoken of it as of yet.

A short while later we found an odor of death and made our way toward the smell. There were three men pinned to trees by branches in a triangle. There was a bowl in the middle that it appeared that in which blood had been poured. Their hands and feet had grown into talons and elongated tongues. Sir Thad nobly went to bring them down to give them a burial.

We followed the footprints to the south and found a similar scene, although a bit older. The presumption is that there will be something in the middle of the large triangle of which we have seen two of the points. The new mapmaker kept us on course, and we discovered a camp of some size with no less than five tents. While Sarala scouted the camp, the Wynnsaren, as our messenger calls herself, has drawn me the symbol that she believes the stars have told her about. (showing here)

In the camp we found a locked wooden chest with frost on it and a paw print that was similar to the one paw that we found. Then the creature with a paw missing attacked us. We dispatched it and found an odd metal in the box. The metal seemed to be the source of the cold, and we kept it so that we can research it later. The girls were able to find enough tracks to get an idea of where things were, and we decided to move toward the center again.

The girls found tracks that lead us to a bowl shaped impression in the landscape with a hole in the bottom. We descended into it and there was a strange purple goo about the bottom which both froze and burned. We found some small ledges that got us past them. In this strange place, it was strangely quiet. There really is no telling how much is in here.

There were all sorts of wonders in that place. A mirrored ball that floated in place was in the center of the first floor. It entranced the women whom are often entranced with shiny objects such as jewelry. We had to nudge them to get them to focus on anything else, like the strange zombies that came our way or more of those strange blue tentacle lions. We found a few of the smaller ones munching on some strange metal. After dispatching most of them, we collected the metal and found that it went right through any other metal as if it wasn’t there.

Having cleared out the area from hostile intent excepting one blue lion cub that Wynn was intent on saving as a pet, we came back to the purple goo. There were two odd star shaped holes in the goo that looked like the goo should drain through, but were not able to do so. Paido and Sarala went out and banged on them a couple times, and they sounded like metal. After we took some of the shards of the strange metal and put them on the end of some staves we were able to knock them through and find a hidden catch to open a trap door that led to a new chamber.

Sarala and Paido climbed down and found a nest of some sort of strange plant like creature that was able to attack one’s mind. We all went down and confronted it together and were able to destroy it. We made our way out of there and rested up for the night. A fascinating find to be sure, Wynn says that we are tied together with it and destiny or some such nonsense, but she was nice enough to give us some gifts and take her leave. She will do her own research in New Stetven, and we made plans to meet up again.

Whether we will hunt down the one who did the strange ritual or try to put to rest the other victims of the dark ritual upon the next day is a matter for the morning.

29th of Pharast

In the morning we went after the third point of the triangle to take care of the bodies there. These were the most advanced of all of the zombies we found up top, but they did not attack, so they were disposed of quickly. The rest of the day was uneventful.

30th of Pharast

We went to Oleg’s the next day, making arrangements to meet up with our recruit at his old bandit camp. Kesten told me of a Sneeg, a gray bearded man who joined his mercenary crew earlier in the year and robbed the whole company. He found that his nemesis had joined up with the bandits in this area and said he would reward us for bringing him back alive. We stayed the full day there, and picked up needed supplies. Sarala had conveniently forgotten to get me another horse upon our third trip to Oleg’s. I think she finds it amusing for me to share with the peasant. I purchased one with my own money.

1st of Gozran

We picked up our recovering bandit who had been somewhat successful on his food hunting, and was pleased to receive his cut.

2nd of Gozran

We seem to have found an ancient structure of some kind. There is a large elk over the cave like entrance, with pillars and what used to be a fine pond. There was a bear that came after us there, but we quickly dispatched it. It turned into an old man after it was slain, and turned to dust after that. Paido explained that it was sometimes the fate of disobedient priests of Erastil to be turned into ravenous beasts. The pond cleared up after we mentioned that aloud, so it was likely that we had cleansed it to some degree. We will tell the Cleric of this place after we return.

That night we discovered some body parts that some maleficent creature left in a circle around our camp. The cowardly creature or creatures left after they delivered the message, so there was no reason to remain awake.

3rd of Gozran

We followed the creature’s footprints and found more carrion. We were unable to follow the creature to where it went, so we had to continue our exploration. We found a werewolf while exploring, and Sir Thad quickly dispatched it. It had a treasure cache that Paido found and we moved on. Later we found some hot springs which Sarala wanted to use as a hot bath. There were some giant frogs in there that we had to exterminate before she could wash. We decided to camp there and take advantage of the soothing waters.

The maleficent creature came upon us again that night but it was not a terrible beast, but a bugbear. It knocked the halfling down, and managed to even hit Sir Thad, but Sarala knocked it out with a blow from her sap. After he was executed, it seemed that his weapon was alive, and it attacked us as well. Realizing it was outmatched, it fled into the night. The rest of the night was uneventful and we felt more rested than we had in several months.

4th of Gozran

Upon the next day, we found a 15 foot tall statue that is a mix between a human and an elk. There didn’t seem to be anything around it other than it arm being missing. After some searching about, we left. It was all we saw for the day.

That evening, we got a visitor named Bulwar, a self proclaimed hunter and trapper. He warned us of a ruin to the east where a boggard hangs out with a slurk. Other than that he didn’t seem to have much information. Still it kept the rest busy while I finished my paperwork.

5th of Gozran

Our visitor left early in the morning before the others woke up. The rest of the day was uneventful.

6th of Gozran

We found a moldy area with a horse in the middle of it. It was rotting but did not smell like the rest of the area. It was a unicorn, with its horn broken off and missing. We buried it, because it seemed a bit wrong to leave it to rot in the mud. We found no further evidence of the one who took the horn, but I imagine we will find it or the culprit sometime in the future.

7th of Gozran

When crossing the river, we found some Tatzlwyrm guarding the ford. They managed to make a decent showing for themselves, but they were eventually were dispatched. We did find a nice long sword and some armor as well.

8th of Gozran

We found the boggard’s ruin where Bulwar says it was, but gave it a wide berth because it was told to us that he wouldn’t bother us if we didn’t bother him. Unfortunately the bear we ran into later did not have the same proclivities. It managed a good fight, but Sir Thad was able to cut off its head. The meal that night was a little greasy, and Paido tried to make a rug out of its hide and failed, but it was a learning experience.

9th of Gozran

We found a Thylacine in a pit trap, and decided to leave it for the trapper who caught it. It was the highlight of our day. Some of these days do drag on.

10th of Gozran

Today we came across a boar’s den that apparently was not home. We decided to leave it to his home and moved on.

11th of Gozran

Finally we found the fang berries. They were in some nasty brambles that I kept out of, and for good reason. There was a swarm of spiders in there that I had to take care of with my magic, but they managed to take quite a few bites out of Sarala, but she was not bad off after some healing and a good verbal release against her brother whom she blamed for the attack in the first place.

12th of Gozran

We found a bridge over the Thorn River which gave us some trouble, Paido’s horse fell through and I was concerned that I would have to share mine again, but we were able to save it. We were separated on either side of the river and decided to follow it until we got to a ford.

13th of Gozran

Early in the morning, we were attacked by an owlbear which Sir Thad thought it might be fun to wrestle. While he had it occupied Datzig snuck up behind it and fired an arrow into its head. It seemed to go so quickly, we actually forgot to wake up Sarala. Paido got some meat off of it and we carried on to explore the other side of the river.

14th of Gozran

We found the sycamore tree that the mites use as their home. We decided they were bandits since they had a tendency to steal things and we went to root them out. We killed a few of them and a whiptail centipede that was down there before we found a kobold that had been captured. Thad freed it and it was grateful to him. These creatures must be unbelievably low to be captured by mites. Its name was some amalgamation of animal grunts and the pitiful creature wants to come with us to reclaim some pitiful treasure the mites stole from it. It is quite possible that it is some sort of demon statue. No wonder they are so low. Bowing to evil does not make one strong.

Across the chasm, there was a fair amount of mites with what looked to be a fairly sizable spider. It grabbed a hold of Sarala until she escaped. Sir Thad opened a mighty hole in its side and I found an opening some sort of the heritage that I have that has never manifested before and I finished the beast off.

There were a few more mites and centipedes throughout the rest of the area, of which I struck down one of each with my staff as they were not worthy of any spells. They had a crude map of the immediate area which Paido noticed and denoted the location of the Sootscale cave, where the pitiful Kobolds live.

After a short discussion, we decided to parley with the Kobolds for some reason. They lived in what was a defunct silver mine which may still have some value in it yet. When we delivered the statue to the chief, he broke it, declaring his freedom and went to kill what seemed to be the evil caster or priest that had them under its thumb. It seemed like a good idea to make sure it happened, so we all followed the chief to make sure he would do a perfectly reasonable act and destroy the evil.

We ended up doing the most of the work. He had some items on him that we had, and Sir Thad opened up an alliance with the Kobolds and he warned us of a bridge to the northeast that the Stag Lord had killed a man up there who was trying to earn a living by charging a toll on the bridge there. Chief Sootscale told us there was still evil up that way, so we are going to plan to check out that area for any leads as to where the Stag Lord was at. We left the kobolds amiably, and made a tentative plan to head back to Oleg’s to resupply.

15th of Gozran

We decided to finish our exploration of the sycamore area and we ran into some boar in a thicket. Normally, at a boar hunt we tool a dozen men, but we did well, to take down four with just the five of us. We definitely were not going to run out of meat anytime soon.

16th of Gozran

During the night, Sarala's wounds from the spider fight made her quite ill. We rode with haste to Olegs while Paido took the fugitive to the hermit to work out some deal with him for the fang berries we found. The cleric said she would probably survive but he is so cheerful, I know I could not trust him with bad news. Thad attended her as well while I caught up with my cousin.

17th of Gozran

I left with two of my cousins guards to quickly fetch the medicine from Paido and get it back as soon as possible. Paido had accrued 6 doses, which was a good thing since I sent one man ahead with one dose and he was ambushed and killed by bandits. I dug his grave myself after the rest of us delivered the antiplague.

18th of Gozran

Sarala felt better today, no thanks to me. When we told the cleric about the temple he finally offered his services for free. In return, I bothered learning his name. It's Jhod. He said he would translate the note we found under the sycamore in the morning, which coincidentally was when Thad would let Sarala travel.

19th of Gozran

We headed out to track down the bandits today, before long we ran into Datzeg who told us where the bandits were camping. We planned to attack them in the morning.

20th of Gozran

The bandits were on the move but we caught up to them. We captured all of them alive but the leader who was misinformed Concerning Thad's mercy. The others let us know where the Stag Lord's base of operations was, so it was not an unprofitable trip. Some decided to join our cause. the others we took back to Olegs to take their chances with the guards.

21st of Gozran

We took the prisoners back to Olegs and handed them off to my cousin who was happy to mete justice upon them. Now we were off to secure the bridge and head to the Stag Lord's base.

23rd of Gozran

Our new friends told us there was an undead problem at the bridge and that they signed up to take out the Stag Lord. Thad agreed, and we prevailed upon him to wait that out because the bridge owner had a grudge against the Stag Lord, and we might be able to reason with the ghost to leave if we took care of him first. We changed direction and headed to the Stag Lord's Fort.

24th of Gozran

We crossed the ford and saw the fort. We decided to do a type of siege. We set up an ambush upon the road. But that night it was us who were ambushed, by some great shambling plant creature who was resisting my fireworks. Eventually, he succumbed to our repeated attacks, and we all almost died. Our new allies fled for the keep to collude with the enemy. We moved our camp to the north to reconsider our stratagems.

25th of Gozran

We decided to pus to Olegs in case of a counterattack. Our plan seems to be to get resupplied and possibly work on our allies the Kobolds.

26th of Gozran

We left Sarala and Paido with Datzeg to scout and possibly hunt while we go to resupply. We arrived and made whatever transactions we needed to make. I ordered a spell via scroll that should help against a crowd, but it is hard to say whether it will arrive in time. Now all we have to do is wait.

29th of Gozran

Sarala and Paido came back, warning of a movement of men through the forest at night. We prepared for the coming of them, but they didn't attack this night.

30th of Gozran

In the dark, men started making fortifications in the night. When we started opposing them, a voice called out to us, telling us to stop. Since Thad didn't recognize his authority, we continued. They set fire to the outer wall, and it took us quite some time to battle it back. The voice wanted to parley in the morning and since we spent quite a lot of energy defeating the fire, it seemed prudent to wait. He did introduce himself to Thad, but in the mix of things I neglected to remember his name. Oh well, it is likely that one of the two of us will be dead tomorrow, so I suppose it doesn't matter. My only regret is that I neglected my arcane studies for quite some time and if I had continued to pursue them I should have been able to better handle them all. As it is, we will be hard pressed to leave this alive. Well, I might survive, but I fear for some of the peasants and mostly for Sarala. Ladies like that shouldn't have to deal with war.

1st of Desnus

His name is Akiros, and he either was easily swayed by Thaddeus' rhetoric, or he was looking for a different kind of life. He informed Sir Thad of his willingness to defect, and his conversations with Datzeg who approached him in the wood. It seemed that Akiros was quite interested in betraying the bandits and siding with us. He was even more willing to do so as we destroyed all of the bloodthirsty troops under his command. Between the two of them and some heroics of the men under my cousin's command, we were able to fend them all off without a casualty.

Now it seems we have an inside man, and he told us of a hidden way into the Stag Lord's keep. He also told us of the people there. I hope his information is accurate, but it seems as if he really is tired of the whole lifestyle, of which he did not necessarily enter into willingly. The best option seems to return quickly and strike before they realize that a good portion of the bandits under their control are dead.

2nd of Desnus

After selling off whatever spoils we had, we decided to move toward the Kobold camp to get some extra bodies for our siege. On our way south we ran into some large Thylocenes which skinned rather nicely. It seems that Sarala is improving her skills.

3rd of Desnus

I don't know if they will be much of a distraction or not, but it seemed to be better than none. They are at least rather sneaky. And they bartered for some weapons, which they might have trouble wielding anyway, so it seemed like a decent trade.

4th of Desnus

We approached the fort, and Sarala came out with her strategy, which seemed quite good. She, Datzeg and our new friend Akiros will go into the fortification and say the deed is done. In a couple days, when their guard is down, they will let us in and we can fight on equal footing. It really is a good plan, and although Sir Thad isn't terribly fond of letting his sister go inside without him, there would be no other recourse unless we wanted to do a frontal assault, and we saw how troublesome that would be when they attacked us. Now, we wait and hope nothing goes wrong.

5th of Desnus

Still no word or activity and it seems like good news. I do not think Sir Thad is sleeping. This could be bad for his vigor on the day, he is going to need at least some level of detachment or further endeavors would be more difficult. Either that or he should trust his sister more. That would probably be easier for him.

6th of Desnus

At midnight Akiros let us into the fort. The fight went pretty well considering, but we did have one casualty, Akiros. The Stag Lord didn’t like his treachery and focused his attention on him first. By the time we were able to take out the bandit’s leader, Akiros’ heart had already been pierced. After all of the trouble he put us through, he ended up in his own grave in the midst of his own keep. We went into the basement to see some sort of wretched one that they keep down there. Paido and Datzeg stayed up top and secured the top.

Down there we found lots of treasures down there as well as a druid of some kind. Thad did say it was evil, so we did well in destroying him. Thad gave him several chances, but he refused them all. There was quite a lot of stolen goods down here. It would be quite interesting to see how much is here. But for now, it is time to rest, well deserved rest at that.

In the morning we dealt with our prisoners Auchs and Topper Red. Auchs was pretty easy to deal with, as he has the mind of a child. We told him that he needed to follow us, and that’s what he did. Topper Red had impressed Sarala with his desire for something other than a bandit life, and Sir Thad spared him and told him to go spread the story of our defeat of the Stag Lord and a return of peace and security to the area. He shouldn’t be terribly unkind, due to the fact that we spared his life, but I don’t know if it was a good idea just to let him go on his own cognizance.

We finished packing the spoils of war in the morning, putting together everything of value. For some reason Thad wanted to lock up as we left, just to make it a little harder for persons to reside in there without anyone staying to make sure they didn’t. We had decided to go to the Kobold’s mine, and return their warriors. They did better than anyone expected, excepting perhaps the Kobolds themselves.

When we arrived at their camp, we gave them the short swords we discovered in the keep, and they were very excited. Chief Sootscale seemed to be impressed by Thad’s reliability, but I’ve a feeling he won’t be the last. They gave us a place to stay for the night, and we were not bothered.

7th of Desnus
The next morning, we went to the bridge where the undead menace was. Sir Thad had brought along the corpse of the Stag Lord, and when we gave it to the strange but pitiful creature that rose out of the river, he went to his eternal rest, leaving behind a fine magical polearm.

10th of Desnus
We finished exploring the area, putting the last touches on our maps. Despite Paido’s trepidation, he did a serviceable job. Datzeg has been next to useless lately, I think he is dreaming about all the wealth he has accrued. He seems to count in his sleep as well, but I cannot be sure that he can count very high. Perhaps he will need some advice to allow him to stay away from major financial pitfalls in the future.

13th of Desnus
We arrived back at Oleg’s, and I received the scroll I ordered. It hardly seems useful at this time, but I will store it for further use. Oleg was pleased to receive his wedding band that we found amongst the Kobolds. My cousin was also pleased to receive the head of his formerly treacherous comrade in arms. With more rewards to receive we prepared to make our trip to Restov.

16th of Desnus
Sarala took the boys to the market, while Thad and I dropped off our maps and checked in with the Lord Mayor. He seemed quite pleased to hear our tales and take our maps and told us to come back in the morning. Thad decided that the occasion was good enough to rent out a hall, and the five of us had a party. I don’t remember the party exceptionally well, but I do remember this. Sarala came in dressed to the nines, and without tears she let me dance with her, which was two steps better than the last time I asked her to dance.

17th of Desnus
I awoke with a fair headache, but it wasn’t enough to deter my cheerfulness upon the morn. Sarala and Thad were cheerful as well, as we had no idea what the reward for successfully finishing our mission was. And it was a bit of a surprise. We received a new charter saying that Brevoy was sponsoring us to start a new kingdom, independent of them, to bring stability and such to the area. Sir Thad was apprehensive, but the rest of us prevailed upon him to accept. Now there was much work to be done. I may have to put off my further plans.

One of the first things Thad did after he accepted the responsibility of the kingdom was to ask me to help him, and it was a good thing he did because he did not know anything at all about building a kingdom. After a quick tutorial, we set about writing some letters and asking some people to fill in some essential positions. First we woke up Datzeg, who was more or less agreeable, since he did not really have any other particular plans. He would make a good counselor, at least until we had sufficiently brought more civilization to the area. I then told Auchs that he would be in charge of carrying out the kings judgements, and he responded like he usually did, which was with a generally compliant attitude.

With the six of us, we still had some difficult holes to fill. We decided to take a trip up to New Stetven and ask some other close associates that we have there.

22nd of Desnus

Today, we arrived in New Stetven with a very uneventful trip. The palace guard, which is provided their arms and armor from the Garess mines, has been quite successful in keeping the roadways clear of trouble. Sarala spends most of her time lost in thought, very concerned with how she can help her brother, and Paido has been thinking quite a lot as well. I continued to tutor Thad on many of the things we would need along the trip. Somewhere along this journey it was decided that since Paido had a good head for numbers he would make a good Treasurer

When we arrived, we sought out the shrine of Sarenrae, only to find no one there. Evidently, clergy drop by every so often, but are not guaranteed to be there at any particular time. It may be hard to make some contacts in Thad’s church, or get a hold of his mentor for assistance in the matter of kingdom building. With those two positions unfilled, it may make for a rougher start than I anticipated. We were able to send out some letters with some reliable friends in hope that they would make swift passage toward their intended targets.

23rd of Desnus

We spent time with Wynnsaren today, and she was very eager to help. It also was revealed to us that she was Aasimar, or half celestial. Since many nobles have ties to planar blood, especially celestial blood, it was very easy to see why I saw her as noble blooded in the first place. If we snag Jhod for priestly duties, it should work out fairly well until some of our longer distanced allies are able to come.

24th of Desnus

I looked for and noted eligible women that would be coming of age in a couple years when Thad had more land under his rule and would be a more advantageous pick. I am still not sure if we should choose a bride from Brevoy anyhow, as it would lead to more difficulty establishing ourselves as an independent nation. But it does not hurt to be prepared for any eventuality.

25th of Desnus

We left in the morning, having finished what we could and preparing for our first steps. I imagine that this part of the journey will be as uneventful as the last one was.

29th of Desnus

I was not disappointed in my prediction. Wynnsaren is not the only one with predictive power it seems.

30th of Desnus

We now have quite the caravan heading down toward Oleg’s trading post. There are nearly two hundred fifty with us now. Many of the people willing to settle in the Stolen lands are of little worth for important matters, but they will do as peasants and they seem to be sturdy enough for the labor we will need.

1st of Sarenith

I talked Kesten into coming with on our new venture, something he was very excited to do as he had nothing much left for him in Brevoy. It was easy to see that we were getting some quality people together for this venture, and I was beginning to rest easier.

3rd of Sarenith

After traveling south with the caravan for a day, we headed to the old bandit camp as a staging point for going to talk with Jhod. Sarala did not come with us to keep an ear on the rumors concerning our kingdom and it would be easier to do at Oleg’s for the time being.

4th of Sarenith

Well, the talk with Jhod could have gone better, after being told that he would be replaced and that the king could really take or leave the worship of Erastil, he decided that spending more time refurbishing his temple was his calling as opposed to helping out a fledgling Kingdom. I’m not really sure that we didn’t offend him quite a bit to get him to refuse. Without his help, it might be a little more difficult to get a good start.

5th of Sarenith

Once we gathered back together with the Caravan, I asked Wynnsaren to take over spiritual direction of our kingdom. She wasn’t excited about doing so, but she said she would temporarily take over until we received a cleric from Sarenrae. This should settle down some unrest in the kingdom, at least for now.

6th of Sarenith

We spent the day surveying the land where we were going to build, and tried to fight off some of the zombies that spring out of the ground around the castle. It may be that there is a curse of undeath there that will need a bit of holy power to undo, but since we have a cleric coming, it may take care of our problem there. We decided to build our town a mile toward the river to take more advantage of the waterfront.

7th Sarenith

We broke ground today on a new mill next to the river. With a few more major buildings and a few less tents around, this place would make an excellent town. With the castle up on the hill one could easily imagine a large city here. In a month, we should have a greater idea of what we we have, and make adjustments as needed.

10th of Sarenith

Went to see kobolds to continue good relations with them to prevent war between our people. It seems strange to include monsters in our area and treat them like they were not that. But Thad keeps insisting that things are not always as they seem. Even Sarenrae worked with Asmodeus to defeat Rovagug, so there is precedence there, I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite us later.

12th of Sarenith

Today, we continued our rounds and met up with Jhod, although he wasn’t any help. He told us that it would be either really inexpensive to smite them all, or deal with the whole area with a hallow spell, which would really interfere with the kingdom building that we planned to do. He treated us to a meal, and we spent the night there so it seems that he isn’t terribly unfriendly with us even despite our request to help him being denied.

15th of Sarenith

When we returned to the settlement, which we have decided to call Akiros, after the man who followed Thad’s path to redemption and allowed us to fully defeat the bandits in the area. It is a fitting tribute to a remarkable man. When we went out to try and discover more about the undead curse around the castle, we found no more zombies. Evidently we retreated thinking there would be more, but there were not. We will definitely come back several more times to be able to try and make sure there are no more, but it looks like we are in the clear for now.

16th of Sarenith

We went to explore to the west, found gnomes in the river. We saved their maps, but they were unwilling to show us any of them but for a thousand gold he would show us a map of an area. We bid them adieu and explored the rest of the area.

8th of Erastus

As we were to leave to Restov to see if we could collect a cleric for our venture, when Wynnsaren came into the tent, having a dream so potent that it. She let us know the location of it was in a castle on an island to the southwest. We traveled by boat and approached it from the north. There were quite a few poisonous brambles on the island, which Thad was thoughtful enough to use his sword to cut through for us.

A short ways onto the island, we were attacked by akata, so it was as if it were related to the last vision quest we went on with Wynnsaren. She shot stars at four of them, knocking them flat. We were able to finish them off quickly, but not before the majority of us were bitten. The heavenborn seer let us know they infected us with their larva, and it would be likely to affect us within the hour. Paido passed out vials of antiplague, and we pressed on. Hopefully we would be able to find a place to rest before it set in.

We found a castle in the midst of the brambles, and a wave of dread came over us. The castle was covered in vines, and where the vines were not, there were strange runes. Wynnsaren says that they are prayers of some kind. Thad found a symbol that reminded us of the pattern that he bugbear used, a triangle pattern. We found an iron gate, went through and were attacked by some Mandoragas. They gave us some trouble, but we managed to dispatch them. There were two doors beyond the gate, but they were barred from the inside, so we went around to look for more.

We found a small tower and inside there was a mosaic of the night sky as it would have looked like in the age of Destiny. We found a pattern in there that was exactly the same as the symbol that we found in the strange mine that the seer took us to before. There is definitely a connection there as well, so this may end up being dangerous and possibly profitable. Sarala went up to the second floor and woke up some sort of Will O’ Wisp which gave us a bit of a scare, but that I dispersed with a spell. There were also skeletons up there that had the tops of their heads sawn off.

The front door was locked as well, but Sarala was able to scale the building and found a hole in the roof. She climbed down into that and opened the front door for us.

Inside, there was a dining room of sorts with a throne at the other end. While we were investigating the throne, it pricked Paido’s finger and the blood seemed to fuel some mechanism. There was a secret door in the throne, but we didn’t open it before we were attacked by a strange creature. Wynnsaren called it a dimensional Shambler, at one point it wanted to grab Sir Thad and Dimension Door away, but it’s plan failed. Eventually it succombed to our combined might and fell, but we were very tired at that point and needed to get some rest.

We went back over to the mainland and enjoyed the lights of Candlemere. There were some good ghost stories about the place and I was really beginning to enjoy myself. We had a restful night. Even the ladies were able to do a little catching up as their respective jobs kept them apart for the last couple months.

When we returned to the castle, Paido noticed a trap and Sir Thad thought it would be best to stick his sword into it. This is why so many of us need to surround him with better ideas than he is able to come up with himself. Paido nearly died when a huge fireball erupted, nearly accomplishing a funeral pyre for us all. He was able to fix our hurt with his healing energies as an apology from his goddess.

After that we went past some vines in the throne room, finding additional rooms behind them. The vines themselves were suspect, so we took our care with them. We found some bleeding skeletons in a room back there and we were able to destroy them relatively easily. We then proceeded to find a meat locker with nothing in it of course, and we found an outlying tower to go up. Passing by a handsome fireplace, there was not much else of note in the tower, other than some nice views of the castle and the outlying areas.

We went back up the stairs only to be met with an Aberrant fog of some kind. It swallowed Sir Thad, who wounded it from the inside while Wynn and I hit it with fire. Paido got the finishing blow.
---
Wynn found a secret compartment in the next room that had several scrolls and some interesting spectacles. They are magical, helping to understand written languages and finding forgeries. I can only ascertain that they are going to be useful in future endeavors. We used it to discover the writing on the table below, which was some such nonsense about feeding minds to insanity. The box below was checked while we were down there and it was locked, but we didn’t have the proper tools to open it so we went up.

At the top of the tower, we found a few insectoid creatures carrying off strange equipment while one stayed behind to hold us off. It keyed in on me in particular because I was trying to hinder one of its’ friends from flying away, which I was unable to do. It knocked me unconscious and then again every time that Wynnsaren healed me. After the third time, I noticed that they had finally beat it down.

We used the key we found on it to go back to the throne, and notice a chute going down. Not being able to go through the chute, the ladies decide to look for secret doors to some way down. The key itself moves but is not magical, and is made out of some kind of adamantine alloy with another metal that is completely unknown to me. Their weapon was something like steel, but definitely alien as well. The ladies found a trap door in a secret closet, and were able to find a trap before we went down into the depths.

Down there we found a crypt of some sort that made us all feel sick. The chute allowed the collected brains to fall here, and something took them away from here. There was some kind of undead choker creature who gave us a little trouble, but we were able to put it to rest. There were some treasures in this crypt that will help with our kingdom building to be sure. Altogether it seemed that the place was clear of any creatures, but the place still had a vile aura to it that would need some definite consecration to bring it to a complete end.

Our trip back was uneventful.

10th of Erastus

We finally left for Restov and on our way to the Kobolds, we found that Paido had progressed in his casting enough to summon a familiar. I don’t know how he found a creature more suited to the desert than the plains, but it seems to suit him well enough. He is also small and protects himself well.

11th of Erastus

We found an owlbear, or rather it found us. At least that’s what Sarala was skinning in the morning. I found that if I concentrated I remembered the fight, but obviously it wasn’t as big of a threat as these used to be since I hardly woke up for it.

15th of Erastus

We get to Restov and I ordered a mithral shield. It is going to take 19 weeks to create, as they didn’t have any in stock. All the better then, I can get it personally etched to my liking.

We went to the temple of Abadar and found an Affluent Sas who seemed very interested in our endeavor and upon the morn was to tell us of what they can do.

I sent for a new sorcerer’s robe, and it should arrive by the end of the month.

16th of Erastus

Zened Mirces was the name of our new cleric, and he seemed to be quite interested in coming. He came from Isger to the River Kingdoms and is going to be a excellent ally. I particularly enjoy his viewpoints on civilization, since I had not heard them in such a fresh way since my youth. Having no other people who venerate Abadar in our group had been more taxing than I thought it would be, but now I feel quite a relief.

22nd of Erastus

We arrived back in Akiros, and set to work. We discovered a group of adventurers, of whom Sir Tambor was a part. They had a cleric of Sarenrae named Kyra, and a wizard named Ezren and a warrior named Valeros. Sir Thad talked to them at length, and tried to persuade Sir Tambor to stay. He said he would dwell on it and let him know the next day.

23rd

Tambor accepted the position, and now we have the building blocks for our kingdom all in one place. There are a few places that could use better talent, but as for now, I feel we have enough people to fill up any holes and to put out whatever fires we might need.

24th

We began exploring the Tuskwater today, nothing much to report as the first area was pretty, but empty of excitement. This would be a good place for farming.

25th

In the area we went to explore today, we managed to find a strange 20 ft wide pool of bubbling mud. the stench was so horrid, it drove it Paido and I away, but that’s when the strange creature attacked. Before we could intervene, it swallowed Sir Thaddeus whole. Sarala was doing very well with her sap to keep it stunned while Paido cut it out of the beast, but it managed to wake back up when she was tending to Thad as opposed to beating it over it’s head. I distracted it with a clever illusion and we managed to escape, but I imagine we will come back and defeat it before we settle in this place.

We got out of sight and Thad did some healing. I talked him out of trying to kill it again until we got more information on that kind of beast. So we finished exploring the area and bedded down for the night.

26th

Today we explored the Candlemere and it was as hauntingly beautiful as it was before. I do enjoy the lights and the mystery of the area, it still needs to be consecrated and cleaned up before I would spend much time here, but it doesn’t mean I won’t want a summer home here in the future.

At night we were attacked by a Manticore who stapled me to the ground in my sleep. I was still able to pull off some spells to drive it off. Bright lights during the night can be especially painful to the eyes. I covered us with a spell of illusion and it left after flying around trying to find us. Sir Thad desired to find it’s nest, but it is unlikely to be found.

27th

Back on the Tuskwater we found a settler, whom some call a fae touched crone. We decided to leave her alone for the time being as she was an unpleasant sort. We were able to make it back to Akiros for the evening, sleeping in a proper bed being preferable to Manticore attacks.

31st of Erastus

My new robe arrived in a shipment from Restov. I do think that it will be an essential part of my capabilities. Now I can make much better use of scrolls and spellbooks, should we come across more of them.

9th of Arodus

We received an envoy from the chief of the kobolds. Micmac came to invite us to dinner in three days time. They did put some effort into behaving properly in court, and so Thad agreed. We wanted to talk with them already concerning opening the mine they inhabit. That may indeed be a fine opportunity to do so.

11th

Travel out to the kobolds mine to see them having a dozen boars on spits outside their cave entrance. We were greeted by Micmac warmly. We were ushered into the great feast with a troll who fancied himself a Lord of some sort. After some blathering and attempts at diplomacy which were quite laughable, Thad easily provided a counterpoint to his pathetic argument, and the troll left in a huff.

We discussed their inclusion into Novastasia and the opening of their mine. There was enthusiasm in the arming and fortification of the tribe. We were to head out in the morning, but

12th

We arrive home, with possibilities of building a castle to make our defenses, it wouldn’t take too long to get a working structure built, with the foundations laid for such in our city, but it would take a bit more time to be able to make it as grandiose as originally I had hoped. Sarala has some innovative ideas, and before long, I believe that it will be something of which our kingdom will be proud.

Lamashan 9th

We talked to a fisherman to ferry us across the river to do some more exploration of the Kamelands. The day went by rather well, but something came to us in the night. Some wolves and a warg. Sarala practiced her skinning on them and made a couple decent pelts we should get on the tanning rack when we get back to Akiros.

Lamashan 10th

We found a cave entrance in the next area, with some interesting drawings in the opening of some benign village life. Further in the walls were covered in evil faces that poured forth some vile mist. All of a sudden we were surrounded by a dozen skeletons which Thad destroyed with the power of his goddess. After some fawning by his sister we moved on and found a potent undead wielding a broken sword. It was a cairn wight, and Thad vowed to put it to rest.

There was a moment of stress when it looked like the wight was about to get ahold of our leader, but Sir Paido hindered it just enough. The sword he wielded was a potent magical item that had some damage, but I had the capacity to fix it as well. It would fetch a high price at the market, but Thad will keep it on him for now.

Lamshan 11th

I was able to finally finish fixing the sword today, when we bedded down for the night. We had found a ford across the river today, which will definitely aid in our exploration of the area.

13th Lamashan

After a couple days of exploration we were set upon by some Wargs again. After a quick fight, we went back to bed and Sarala got more skinning practice.

14th Lamashan

We were able to head back to Akiros in the morning as we had some more urgent business. The fungus monster in the bog would have to wait until next time.

15th of Lamashan

We found some banditry taking place to the north, and we decided to take the Marshall and go investigate. With some conversation with the victims, we were able to find a likely hideout for the bandits. We sent the scouting party ahead and they found the suspects in a farmhouse. The wagons that were stolen were housed in the barn, and then stowed in the woods nearby. We went and confronted the bandits

Aldaric accidently killed one of them, but the rest were caught alive. We stayed the night due to the lateness of the hour.

16th of Lamashan

We arrived back in Akiros with the prisoners and we sent them to trial to take care of the matter.

9th of Neth

Loy Rezbin came to see Thad why he was out. He wishes to start a village in the narlmarches and we gave him provisional assurances to be able to start one.

14th Calistril

There was a fire in the town tonight, it started in the mill and the crosswind sent it into the housing district. We lost only property though, no lives were lost, but it was a serious loss of morale. We will rebuild what we lost as early as next month though, and hopefully something like this can be a source of strength for the people if other disasters come.

4th of Pharast

Rebuilding took less time than expected, unfortunately it did not come under budget. The economy is strong right now, so we should be able to pursue some greater projects soon.

7th of Pharast

There was an envoy from house Varn come to seek audience with the king. He seems to be Magar Varn, whom we met when we originally started. He has done about as well as us in establishing Varnhold to the east, although I’m not certain he has as much land as we do from the conversations we had. Sarala invited him to a feast in his honor in the evening, giving us opportunity to discuss the possible reasons for his visit.

At the banquet, we kept the topic light until we started on politics. Speaking of Brevoy he began to speak of friendship between our fledgling nations. Naturally such an alliance would be useful to both of us, and our competition would not serve us with the nation to the north. He also spoke of the troubles with centaurs to the east and the other from the other nations. We have not had much for trouble yet, so it is likely that we are on equal standing so far.

There was a little talk of the Drelevs and the Iron Wraiths, the other two charters, but not any information on what they have been up to lately. We were told to beware of Galt and Mivon to the south as they may not look too kindly to what’s been happening here. We also discussed a road between our lands to encourage trade. He did invite us to visit his capital city which we decided to do in a month or two. We should be able to judge for ourselves if Varnhold holds as much of a grip on his land as we do ours. Friendly competition or no, unless we can establish a greater presence here and quickly, neither of our cities will be able to withstand much outside pressure.

8th of Pharast

Magar Varn left us this morning, and left us with as much speculation as he did the night before. I hope that our visit to his land will be as peaceful, and as eager as he was to provide friendship, I hope that he won’t desire the king’s sister as a further cementing of our fledgling nations.

9th of Pharast

We left for some more exploration and for a diplomatic mission to the village.

10th

We did some exploration of the Narlmarches on our way over, finding a nixie holding some loggers hostage. After some parley, Thad made the loggers leave, siding with the nixie in a political maneuvering move. We decided to replace her felled trees in a show of good faith. We went to a dryad to find the saplings, and she is afraid of a evil tree she wants us to slay. Thad decided to help it.

11th

We explore the area, and found no tree, however the dryad’s mate, a satyr, knew where the tree was, and so he set us out toward it. We defeated it in the night, and would have slept well except that we kept company with a satyr. If Thad wants his sister unspoiled, we will have to be on our way with some haste in the morning.

12th

After a fitful sleep, we went back to the dryad. The satyr went into an embellished tale of how he protected us from dying against the evil tree. She was grateful for our help and gave us some healing magics. We talked of some things in the area, discovering some trolls possibly to the south. After some promises to keep in touch, we went on our way. We went over to the nixie and planted the saplings and moved on toward the village

13th

We arrived at the fresh village at midday, and met with Loy Rezbin who was working on a house. We learned that they decided to call it Tatzelford. There had been some pranks, but with the Medvyed advice, it should be quickly dispelled. There also was a rumor of a troll track to the north. We took the boy to the tracks to see if we could hunt the creature down, but we lost the track within an hour. We decided to head to the south and do more exploration.

14th

We traveled to the west to the place we would begin exploration.

15th

We began exploring the forest in this area and found not much to begin with. The day was peaceful and pleasant, as the spring seems to be on its way.

16th

On this day we found a ruined keep and went into investigate. The portculis was still working but now as a trap. There were hundreds of rats in the first tower we looked at, and while Paido distracted them, the both of us hit them with fire and quickly cleaned out the infestation.

In the central tower, we found a trap as well as a staircase up. Since it was plant based, Paido hit it with a defoliant and we were able to let it deteriorate while we checked out the rest of the area. We left it to check out another tower and were attacked by an assassin vine and a barkskinned feral elf of some kind. After we dispatched them both, Sarala was continued to suffer it’s poison. After Thad made some questionable advice to help, before I was able to dab the vile substance out of the wound.

We moved into the next tower and found a chest. While they were coming back from the horses with a crowbar, they were ambushed by a pint sized quickling, stabbing at their legs. Paido and I made quick work of it, although it was withdrawing from us after Paido’s electric strike. Thad and Sarala were a little disappointed with the death of it, although I am fine with his destruction. He attacked without any warning and reveled in making the lady bleed. After we searched his corpse, we moved on to the next tower.

We discovered some treasure as well as the quickling’s collection of scalps before we went up the tower to discover some sort of elvish fey creature. Thad kept it alive to pronounce judgement and behead the witch. She did seem to curse him before she died. We made plans to return for some larger items of value that we found in her room. The rest of the day went by and we explored the rest of the area without incident.

18th

We were attacked this day by the fabled mad hermit. He was less than mythical after all, and we took him into custody for trial back at Akiros. In the night we were attacked by trolls, which surprised us and were able to knock down Sarala, who was doubling watch. The rest of us made relatively quick work of the two and the rest of the night went by uneventfully after Thad healed those who were injured..

19th

We decided to try to follow the tracks to see which direction they came from. Sarala determined they had come from the west. After some consideration, we decided to take the hermit back to Akiros, which was only about a day away. It seemed that was all the expectations apart from our normal duties this month, so I set about the tutelage of the promising children of Akiros.

8th of Gozran

We built a guest house, fit for visiting royalty. It would be best if we had a separate site for important people we do not want in the castle at night. Also it might be tempting for visiting dignitaries that we might woo.

We took a boat to the west of Candlemere to do some more exploration. I find it to be relaxing after spending so much time with children who ask questions more persistently than Sir Paido does.

9th

We discovered a Hummock in the Murque river. It had several mounds and a palisade filled with lizardfolk who had allied themselves with the troll lord. We were told that proceeding south would declare war. Not wanting to kick the hornets’ nest as of yet, we decided to give them a decent buffer and proceed to the west. It took a bit to find a way across the river, which slowed us down quite a bit and we will have to finish the exploration of the area tomorrow.

10th

After a quiet night, we finished the exploration of the area, and the lizardfolk had seemed to traverse the southern reaches of the river more often.

11th

We found a message of “Humans forbidden, Monsters Only” written in Grig blood on a tree in the next area, and the fresh inkwell next to the tree. We buried the Grig and burned the message with acid. We finished the exploration and proceeded west.

12th.

We found some deadfall and some sort of lizard beastie came out and threw Thad to the ground, it was a Hodag, and we were able to find some treasure in it’s lair which would be rather profitable to sell.

13th

We continued to the west and decided to fully explore the forest.

15th

We were ambushed by some invisible fey. They managed to kill off all our steeds but my horse, but we did manage to escape with our gear. We fled to the east, back toward Akiros, although at a much slower pace than originally intended.

20th

We arrived back in Akiros, a bit footweary, but alive. The return trip was unapproachably dull, as most of us were in a foul mood. I’m glad to get my horse back from the king, and be back to my work with the children. Sufficiently disciplined, they are quite enjoyable to teach.

8th of Desnus

Our first army has been assembled. The “First Light of Novastacia” is fit for battle. They are two hundred cavalry, as our land is large and we need them to get places quickly, not to mention the benefits on the battlefield. In time, we should be able to give them specialized weapons and armor befitting their place, but for now we will stick with what we have.

10th of Desnus

We spoke with oleg and he was relatively compliant. We also spent the night with the crew at the siccatite mine. Theirs is a dangerous operation, but it was interesting to speak with the foreman. The goo that seems to seep from the walls is an ugly poison that saps away one’s mind until they just don’t wake up. I’m glad the compensation we are able to afford the miners is well worth the risk.

11th

We went to the west on our troll hunt and found the body of a grig with his arms and legs pulled off. After some speculation, we continued on.

12th

On this day, we traveled to the statue of the stag and found some troll sign, but we were unable to follow it. It was about 2 weeks old and the tracks were too far degraded to follow very far. There is definite activity in this area, we just need to discover what they are doing here. It is disconcerting to say the least.

13th

Continuing our hunt for trolls, we went to the boggard’s home and found a dead slurk. We eventually found the boggard as well, it looked like he had been torn to pieces. It was troll work to be sure. After discovering all we could, we made our way to Tatzelford to spent the night but found instead found news of a small troll army of over two dozen traveling east toward Akiros. After changing our horses and some inspiring speech from our king, we rode off through the night to track them down.

14th of Desnus

When we arrived we set about to get the troops ready and took another half a day to get back to the farms where the trolls were attacking.  We found some refugees who told us where they were at, and we made haste to the reported area.  The trolls were destroying a farmhouse when we fell upon them and our inaugural battle in our war against the trolls began.  The army behaved admirably and we managed to finish off all the trolls without any loss of human life.  We spent the night in the field, cleaning up the mess and getting some well deserved rest.  A few of the men spontaneously started to help clean up the mess from the destruction that the trolls wrought.  It speaks well of their character.  

15th of Desnus

We head back to Akiros and there was much rejoicing at our victory.  I was able to find some supplies in town as our economy has grown, and even found a couple of minor cracked ioun stones as well.  Since half the day was gone, we didn’t leave right away, but those trolls left us our most potent trail.  We recruited Datzeg and some hounds to take with us in the morning.

19th of Desnus

Long on the trail, we made our way past our maps to the south, following the tracks of the troll army, we were ambushed by two trolls in the woods.  We finished them off well enough and Sarala climbed a tree and found a ridge of tall hills in the southern reaches of the forest.  We camped for the night and were unmolested by any additional trolls.

20th of Desnus

We discovered their base of operations in the area.  They had at least fifty trolls and an equal number of Lizardfolk.  We had to nearly pry away Thad from rescuing their chattel, as they were mostly human and likely to be eaten by the time we could return.  There wouldn’t be any return from that, as the four of us would not be useful for raiding an unknown property without loss of an important member of our kingdom.  We went back to Akiros instead and made plans for siege.  

Going from our previous interactions with our armies, It would take about four hundred men to defeat the numbers of trolls without any trouble, and the lizard men would definitely cause that.  Until we are able to significantly increase our force, it would be unwise to bring force here.  Thaddeus is displeased, as he would end them soon, but patience will be good for the kingdom, and he realizes that as well.  

7th of Sarenith

Today was founding day.   There was a spectacular celebration with much merrymaking.  Thaddeus reached into the coffers (with Zened’s blessing) and threw quite the party.  It will be very much looked forward to in this city come next year.

8th of Sarenith

The diplomatic mission to Mivon left today.  Hopefully they can diffuse some of the hostility we are beginning to feel from the south.

12th of Sarenith

We received a message that Mivon has claimed all of the territory to the south of the lands we have claimed.  Whether or not they have historically done so or have done so just to inconvenience us it still remains to be seen.  They have some other minor grievances as well, and almost voted to go to war over them with us.  It’s likely to be a bluff of some sort, but she is exploring options to settle our dispute non-violently.

13th of Sarenith

If we take care of a problem Mivon has, they will accept that as a token of good faith and will allow us to destroy the trolls at our leisure.  We have decided to offer the elves some land near us for the purpose of living in peace.  Since we gain all the lumber we get from Tatzelford, it isn’t a terrible option, and we might be able to get them to defend us if Mivon becomes hostile again.

17th of Sarenith

Wynn has sent us a third message, and is ready to proceed to the elves to make her case.  If all goes well, we will receive an envoy to discuss terms.

23rd of Sarenith

Today, we received our elf envoy in hopes to gain favor with them and work together for our mutual benefit.  Regardless to say, I will attend the meeting, but only in an advisory role when it convenes on the morrow.

24th of Sarenith

We gave the information to the emissary and he made his leave.  Sarala had a personal matter to share with the officials.  

29th of Sarenith

We received a person today, Traica Caladon.  She is the high priest that Thad sent for almost a year ago.  Now that she is here, we are going to wait for a while before we install her, just to know what kind of person she really is, other than slow.

8th of Erastus

We left for Varnhold today to fulfill our promise to Magar Varn.  Having good relations with our neighbors and fulfilling our promises to them is important.  It will likely be about a three day journey if everything goes well.

9th of Erastus

We arrived at the watch tower of Varnhold in the mountain pass.  The guard there sent a bird to announce our arrival.

10th  of Erastus

Arrived in the late afternoon into the city of Varnhold.  received a short tour on our way to the palisade.  Varn met us and welcomed us.  We went into his hospitality for refreshment and promise of  later banquet.  

We talked for some time considering our troubles.  He promised us help with his troops if we would help with his.  On our way back there will be a hundred soldiers accompanying us.  Other than that, we had a conversation about borders.  We have leave to claim all the way up to the Levenies, which gives us plenty of space to grow.  With our current growth rate, we could run out of room in about two years, but that’s with an uncertain western border.  

12th of Erastus

The Varn Host left with us today, although we decided quite soon that we should go on ahead to make preparations.  With the Varn Host, the First Light of Akiros, and a temporary army from the militia, we can take out Hargulka’s armies and end that threat to our country’s peace.

14th of Erastus

We arrived in Akiros, raised another army apart from our regulars to make a formidable force to go wipe out the trolls.  We also prepared to receive Varn’s army warmly, it was the least we could do.  Hopefully we would be able to repay this debt in kind soon.

16th of  Erastus

We received word from the elves that they have started their kingdom, it is called Lomebara, and they just want to be left alone, which is fine by us.  Having them along our southern border with Mivon will only help deter those warmongers from seriously considering an actual invasion.

17th of Erastus

We left Akiros with our armies and the one on loan.  We took the coast of the Tuskwater and camped about an hour outside of the Lizardfolk encampment.  Attack will commence at first light.

18th

Today, we begin the attack on Lizardfolk village.  We won relatively easily, and we decided to rest up for a couple days before proceeding toward the troll hold.  

Dracean, a druid came to ridicule Thad.  He humored him for a while and decided not to execute him for his insolence as I would have done.  He stayed with us for some devious reason.  

21st

We left for the trolls with Dracean still among us.  He has been mostly benign so far, and hasn’t spooked the horses more than anything.  His complaints are unreasonable, and then reasonable.  I don’t think he knows what he is doing.    

22nd

Sarala smacked Dracean in the jaw this morning, so it was a good morning.  He called her bitter, and I suppose that fits, but he needed some sort of communication besides words to let him know how serious we were.  

Finally we attacked Hargulka’s domain.  We decided to try to break in and free the slaves while the armies attack.  We were able to rescue them without any more casualties, although Sarala nearly died.  At last we found a good use for Dracean, as he was good natured enough to heal her.  Perhaps I judged him too harshly to begin with.

After Hargulka went into his tower we took the old crew and went in after him with Dracean in tow.  There were a few trolls in the first floor, but they were dispatched without too much trouble.  Up the stairs were a couple Troll Hounds and their handler and further in there were some Trolls with ballistae and some fortification.  We managed to beat our way toward them when a Rock Troll came in from the back and finally Hargulka himself came from around the corner and threw a bead from a necklace of missiles right at our group.  Once we took care of the trolls in this room, we went and chased him down.

He was delusional right to the end, thinking he would win despite our superior numbers and tactics.  His hobgoblin lackey did taunt us with some news of Hargulka being a distraction while the real danger was attacking Akiros as we spoke.  I didn’t take it as seriously as the others did, although the marking on his shield was unique and something we hadn’t seen before.  We finished him off unceremoniously and pillaged the rest of the tower before we made ready to leave.  Getting back quickly would be troublesome, but staying wasn’t much of an option especially if the hobgoblin’s words were true.

We sent our new druid friend to see if there was some veracity to the hobgoblin’s claim.

23rd of Erastus
Toward midday on our return trip, Dracean returned and gave us news that some creature had attacked Akiros after coming out of the river.  We made haste to return to the city to figure out what happened.

24th of Erastus

Datzeg played the hero and drew off the monster which I was able to identify by it’s tracks.  It was a huge owlbear.  He led it to the north and then across the river trying to lead it away from the city.  He took it a good mile away before it caught him.  We followed the trail until nightfall hoping to see if there we could find it by the next day.

25th of Erastus

We discovered it’s lair near the Little Sellen River in a cave system and found the culprit at the mouth of the cave.  It nearly slayed Thad, but between the rest of us we were able to finish it off.  The cave system was not terribly extensive and there were some trinkets in its nest.  We found a troll on a stalagmite.  We allowed it to stay there while we explored the rest of the cave.  

After finding the owlbear nest, we released the troll, but bound and shackled it so we could have him for questioning.  He had no real useful information other than that the trolls were responsible for the attack and they did not really have any other strongholds.  Thad judged and dispatched him and we decided to rest until the next day before heading back to Akiros.

26th of Erastus

Our new friend Dracean and Sarala skinned the Huge Owlbear since yesterday and made it ready for a display.  Thad wishes to hang it behind the throne, so I shrunk it down temporarily until we could get it back to town.

27th of Erastus

We arrived in Akiros today and I set about discovering the damage that the owlbear attack managed to do to us.  It was not as bad as it originally seemed.  Also, the pelt had a good effect on the population, raising morale.  We are planning a memorial or something for Datzeg.  He really did turn from a bandit to a hero.

8th of Arodus

We built a trade district which has a good effect on the economy of the city, although it will come into full swing when we finish our trade route. There were some minor crime issues which seem to be related. Kesten made a request for magical help to the city watch and I sent him a short list of available and interested candidates.

Due to the crime issues, I went with Thad to see a gnome who might have been a target. He agreed to leave town on an expedition of exploration for us in the morning, so his group would be at less risk. Sarala and Paido are very interested in helping with the investigation. So it is likely we will be diverted from regular activities tomorrow.

9th of Arodus

We found a boy at the docks who saw one of the murders happen by an invisible assailant and a footprint in the hedge maze on the grounds of the noble villa. I went to the library to work with Piotr on discovering which kinds of creatures had that type of footprint.

I was finishing up my research when Thad came to get me for a raid on a barn suspected to be the hiding places of abductors. We found an abducted man, but no conspirators and we decided to lie in wait for them. We sent the abductee to the north for several days while we captured the cult, which was no real challenge.

Piotr found information on a creature known as a Lurker in Light. They can hide in light like others in darkness. They use daggers and poison. They have a limited ability to teleport. They can open gates to the First World. Lurkers in light are supposedly agents of the First World, and have a hatred for gnomes.

It seems that our crime sprees are unrelated and might need some strong expertise to complete, although I’m sure that the regular watch would have caught the cultist eventually. Kesten was very happy to see the two candidates I put forward and Zened let us take one of his acolytes who is well suited for the job and apply him to the crime problem as well. They should be up to speed in a couple of days, although I’m sure that these novices, however talented, would not be a match for the Lurker. I’m not terribly certain that any of us are, but hopefully we can rid ourselves of it before our city becomes gnomeless.

10th of Arodus

We went over to the miller’s wife who has also some of the sickness symptoms. We talked for a short while and Sarala thought it would be best if she continued the interrogation alone, so we stepped out into the garden where the symptoms first manifested. It was within view of another crime scene, so Paido and I went over there to investigate further. A murder had been committed there, a gnome was building a special kind of observatory, and I promised to send over some people to see if the work could be finished, and possibly copied for the roof of the castle.

Upon reconvention, we discussed the possibility that there were a group of the lurkers, with some who couldn’t control their hatred of gnomes that came back later and killed which ones they could. Paido came up with a daring plan to disguise himself as that particular gnome and to act as bait as the rest of us lay in wait. Sarala made an excellent disguise for him and he went about the gnome’s normal routine.

Near noon, the lurkers attacked and we managed to subdue them. After interrogation by Thad who spoke their language, we discovered their hideout, which was the siccatite mine.

11th of Arodus

We hurried to the area and found the leader of the Lurkers finishing a Gate spell to bring in some sort of evil creature. The magic was too powerful for me to dispel, and they had fetishes with real human parts they had been taking from the victims of the sicknesses to help fuel their ironically dark magics.

We found and executed their leader, then evacuated the miners as it seemed the summoning was completed and there could be something dangerous down there. When we began exploring the area, a cruel creature attacked with the same strange goo that caused the madness of the miners oozing from its skin. Wynnsaren identified it as a Hound of Tindalos. It preferred hit and run tactics, which it was amazingly good at, as it could seemingly use any edge or corner to use as a place to teleport from.

As we set about finding it down there, we discovered the summoning chamber used to bring it here. The miners had gotten quite close to the chamber in their digging and had breached the protective circle around the summoning platform which allowed the hound to escape. The summoning platform was actually inscribed on a permanent wall of force, of which I took some copious notes in my personal log.

After we left the chamber, we were attacked again, but this time we managed to slay the beast. The rest of the area was empty, except for the bodies of those alien plant creatures called the Mi-Go that we fought in the Candlemere. Also they had a small sphere which defied explanation. Perhaps they had been part of the summoning and had been destroyed by the hound when their circle had failed to contain the creature until they could control it. That is but mere speculation but there doesn’t seem to be much of any other explanation for their presence and destruction.

We then left the mine and collected what treasure the leader of the Lurkers had and made plans to return to the castle. Some of us had been quite injured and we could use a couple days of rest.

We left immediately and went back to the castle

12th of Arodus

We returned in the evening and discussed some options for defending the mines.  It was decided that we would build a watchtower there, to better signal if there were trouble, since it is also near the northern border of our lands, it would serve another purpose when the mine is no longer operational.

14th of Arodus

We had the trial for the Gyronan cult.  It was rather quick, and the people were fine with the execution of all of the cultists, as was I.  It was our first public execution and as such, I believe it went rather well.

15th of Arodus

We made it to the area where we were to do some exploration for the trade route, and perhaps some surrounding areas.  Thankfully there was little here that gave us trouble.

19th Arodus

On the 19th, along the Shryke river, we discovered one of the waterfalls that were rumored to hamper travel by river to Brevoy.  This one was fifty feet tall, at least.  It would require some major engineering to overcome this size of waterfall.

21st Arodus

We discovered five waterfalls today, each ranging from ten to thirty feet in height all within a mile of each other.  If this was the end of the obstacles to river trade, most of the work would be done here, and perhaps a small village to maintain the engineering.  Piotr had mentioned a way to circumvent these types of obstacles, but their like have not been fashioned here, so it would be quite the grand experiment.  If it could be done, it would really make a trade route north much more viable and could even alter the flow of crusaders from the south, bringing lots of money into the kingdom.  

23rd

We found Fort Sorenko abandoned, and the tracks from their horses headed east so we went to Nivakta’s Crossing.  We found some rooms at the local inn and spent the night.

24th

We questioned the inn keep in the morning and a few others, We found out that all the soldiers at the borders were recalled.  The speculation would be that there is trouble in Brevoy.

26th,

After some exploration we arrive at Oleg’s.  There was a rumor that Orlovsky had a problem with Surtovan rule, which seems to be an interesting turn of events.  The fact that Wynn was up there gaining information is good for us.  We decided to head on back to Akiros right away and we should arrive upon the morrow.

8th of Rova

Having heard from the gnome expedition, we went out to check out the area they have explored.  Before that, the king went to Tatzelford to announce his plans to annex them.  Also, there was a matter that Sarala wanted to talk with the nixie.

11th of Rova

Now it was time to go and explore some areas we had not done before.  It was relatively uneventful.

16th of Rova

Our exploration was finished.  

8th of Lamashan

A group of a hundred and fifty men appeared outside our city today, flying the Medvyed family crest.  It seems as if Brevoy wants to drag us into a civil war.

We made ready to receive Lord Cor Medvyed in the throne room.  After some small talk, we were ushered out and the Lords did their best not to start a fight.  Afterwards, we got the idea to do a run to Orlovsky’s land to discover the truth, or at least more plausible rumors.   I purchased a scroll of teleport for our return trip, and we set out.  

18th of Lamashan

We were attacked by a stag beetle late at night.  It fell prey to a grease spell and lost it’s footing while we hit it from range.  It did little to replenish our food stocks, but traveling with a druid seems to have it’s advantages.  

23rd of Lamashan

We got into the village around the Eagles Watch, and did some rumour mongering.  Sarala played a person just looking for work, while I played her deadbeat brother spending all her money in the taverns. It was relatively easy to do my part, as it is quite easy for me to pretend to drink and complain about the Surtovans.  Sarala had to learn to slaughter chickens.  

24th of Lamashan

We continued our ruse discovered Lebeda Lander is the one who is claiming the throne.  Whether or not he has an actual claim remains to be seen.  It seems unlikely however, and there was not much else for information that we could get out of the sources here.

25th of Lamashan

Both Sarala and I confirm the rumour again, and decide to leave the next day.

26th of Lamashan

Leaving our horses behind, we used the teleport scroll to go back to my tower.  

27th

We arrived early in the morning and took a rest before reporting to Thad.  I also took a look in the library for any claims to the throne by the Lebeda’s after the disappearance of the Rostarvians, and found nothing.

8th of Neth

Due to the war imminent in the north, we began construction of a city wall.  With the aid of Paido, we enchanted an Ioun Stone to protect his life.  After several near death experiences, I thought it was something that would be needed for him, and he agreed.  He had some trouble attuning himself to it, as his magic is based on logic instead of force of will, and it was

8th of Kuthona

The tiny fishing village of Silverholm was established, and they managed to pull a fair amount of eels out of the iced over lake, bringing in some financial boons to the country.  

8th of Abadius 4712

The city wall was finished.  

18 of Abadius

An assassination attempt was foiled by some of my former students against Kesten.  It seems someone bears our kingdom ill will, the assassin used magic and had fire in his veins.  Thad called it an Ifrit, and due to his unusual nature we may be able to find out more about him.  I think I will have a banquet in their honor.

2nd of Calistril

New Stetven burns, it was attacked by an army of fire.  It would have been interesting to find out more information, but it does seem that the assassination attempt and this army have something in common.  Perhaps when we find more information we can do something about it.

8th of Calistril

Due to Zened’s insistance on performing his duties in the castle district, the mansion we built for him in the area should ease his need for a larger temple at this time.